Kate's husband may get £2 million pay-off

by HARRIET ARKELL, Evening Standard

Kate Winslet and her husband Jim Threapleton are consulting divorce lawyers in the wake of their marriage breakdown, it was revealed today.

The couple are believed to have married without a pre-nuptial agreement, leaving the way open for Mr Threapleton, a third assistant director when he met the actress, to gain a settlement of more than £2 million.

Largely thanks to Miss Winslet's lucrative film roles, the couple's homes include an £800,000 pumphouse in Surrey and a £380,000 home in Cornwall.

While her fortune is estimated at more than £5.5 million, her professional success is also blamed for the failure of the marriage.

Mr Threapleton's grandfather Norman, 83, a retired draughtsman, said: "She is a star, I suppose. Jim is trying to make his way in his own particular field. It is difficult.

"He is a bit of a quiet type. I do not know whether all this theatrical and film life has gone down well with him. It is not really his thing. James just wants to be recognised eventually in his own right - write his scripts and get aw ay from things - and not to be just Kate's husband."

His grandmother Jean, 73, said: "Kate likes company and the limelight whereas Jim is quiet. He is not the pushy type. We have known for a little while that things are not good between them. Her work and his work often kept them apart."

Friends of the couple, who married in November 1998 and have an 11-month-old daughter, Mia, said Mr Threapleton, 27, found it difficult to reconcile his Oscar-nominee wife's career with his own ambitions.

While her star roles require her to spend long periods away filming, he spent more time at home alone looking after the baby.

A neighbour at Miss Winslet's old flat in north London, where she has been living for the last six weeks, said: "I have seen both of them in the last few weeks, and it was always her a few paces ahead of him, while he was always carrying the baby."

Miss Winslet, 25, who is looking after Mia, said yesterday that the split was "amicable", but neighbours in Holloway said they had heard angry rows for weeks.

Simon Hancock, 34, who lives in the same house, said: "They would argue from 7am sometimes until late at night. Kate would scream 'f***ing this' and 'f***ing that' in her posh voice."

Today Miss Winslet is said to be being comforted by close friend, actress Emma Thompson. Mr Threapleton, a keen surfer, is believed to have fled to their home near Tintagel, Cornwall.